Paradise
by The Smokey Gerbil Cloud
Summary: Tanya Decker is a normal, bubbly, over-enthusiastic girl from Texas who receives her Hogwarts letter when she turns 11. On the train ride to Hogwarts she meets her soon-to-be best friends: Dean Thomas, Neville Longbottom and Seamus Finnigan.
1. Something Incredibly Embarrassing

Chapter One

Something Incredibly Embarrassing

Tanya

1991

This sucks. I know, I know, every first year is nervous when they start at Hogwarts for the first time, but what if this is the first time they've ever been in this country? This is exactly my problem. See, this is my first day in England. A few days ago a tall man with untameable black hair and the same dark colour for his beard, his clothes were ragged and covered in mud from walking up from the house next door. However, what he wasn't expecting was for it to be a few miles to our house. So when he finally arrived he was rather later than expected. He hand delivered the letter for Hogwarts and explained to me what it was and why it was important for me to go there. So, this morning at exactly 10:45 I bid my parents' goodbye and placed my hand over the glowing plastic train that Hagrid had left as a Portkey, instructions in hand.

_Go inside station, _I followed the first instruction and found myself mesmerised by the sheer size of the place. Torrents of people trailed all over Kings cross-Station, trains billowed smoke and steam from the holes in their rooves, columns held the roof up. I walked toward a familiar mass of messy hair and dirty grey fur coat that was Hagrid's most distinguishing features other than the fact he was almost three times my size. I hurried forward and realised he was talking to a scrawny, bespectacled boy with black hair that stuck up in every direction. Even from the back you could tell he was wearing glasses that fit the appearance of the oversized, slightly dirty jeans and sweater he wore. Hagrid handed the boy a ticket like the one that had been included in my instruction note and disappeared. The boy looked up and was clearly confused with his sudden loneliness. I hurried forward again and drew up even with him.

"Hello." He said, slightly apprehensive at my sudden arrival. I nodded and showed him my ticket and he grinned. "You're going to Hogwarts too?" I nodded again. "Can you talk?" I nodded, still not speaking though. "Will you?" I shook my head. I wouldn't talk till I was at least on the train. "Do you have any idea where we're going?" I held up the note and gulped, still nauseously nervous. I pointed ahead at a column halfway down the station. Two signs stuck out the top, reading the platform numbers nine and ten. We stopped a few meters away and looked at each other. "Any idea how to get through?" I shook my head and pointed to the note.

"Meet the Weasley's at platforms nine and ten at 10:53 sharp." Harry read, glancing at the watch on his arm. "It's 10:52 - no, wait, 10:53 exactly. Who are the Weasley's?" I shrugged, how the hell would I know? "By the way, I'm Harry." At that moment a family of haggard red heads bustled towards us.

"Are you Tanya?" The woman, obviously the leader of the bunch asked. I nodded and she glanced at Harry.

"Are you going to Hogwarts, dear?" Harry nodded also and the woman pushed us towards the column.

"Percy, you first." The oldest boy ran at the wall and passed though it with ease, making me almost faint in surprise. "Fred, George." Two identical boys charged at the wall, disappearing into the place beyond. "You first dear." I gulped and turned to her in shock. "All you have to do is run directly in the middle of platforms nine and ten. It's quite easy really." I gulped and took off running at the wall, cringing as I passed clean though onto another platform, this one containing a scarlet train with a plaque reading: 'Hogwarts Express' on it. I moved out of the way and joined the other students at the doorway of the train, lifting my trunk into the hold. The only thing I kept with me was my robes and the pet I had brought with me, my kitten Gipsy and her cage. I sat down in the nearest empty carriage and waited for the remaining students to climb aboard. I breathed a sigh of relief as the train started chugging away from the station, previous nervousness forgotten. I immediately felt my characteristic bubbliness rising to the surface and I shrieked excitedly to myself, jumping around the carriage holding Gipsy's cage in my arms, causing her to hiss at me. I danced around in a fit of pure giddiness for a while before I spun around to find three boys standing in the doorway, grinning madly at me. I dropped Gipsy's cage on the seat and sat down abruptly, sitting straight and tall, ignoring the fact that I had just been dancing around in front of three unknown boys. One was dark skinned with black hair and dark brown eyes. His hair was a mini Afro and he was wearing the usual jeans and T-shirt. The boy next to him had sandy brown hair that flopped onto his face and blue eyes that shone with amusement. The boy behind them had black hair, buckteeth and dark hazel eyes.

"Hello." The boy with sandy brown hair said amusedly, a strong Irish accent was apparent.

"Hi." I said quietly, majorly embarrassed from earlier. Hey, I actually spoke! Points to me!

"I'm Seamus, this is Dean and Neville." He indicated to himself first, then the first boy, then finally at the boy in the back who waved awkwardly. "Do you mind us sitting in here with you?" He gestured around the carriage before glancing back at me.

"Why would I mind? I mean, it isn't like you just saw me doing something incredibly embarrassing." I replied dryly and they grinned at me.

"Hey, you're not from around here, are ya?" Dean asked and I grinned at him.

"Nah, I'm from Texas. You know, like with cowboy hats. I love it up there, it's really… serene." Neville nodded.

"Yeah, I went there once, saw a rodeo or two with my Nan. We got kicked out after she bewitched the bull to salsa dance. It was fun though." He sat on the seat across from me and Dean leaned against the wall away from the door. I rolled my eyes at Gipsy and tickled her chin through the bars of her cage.

""What's its name?" Seamus asked, gesturing toward the cat as he sat on the floor near the door, eating a pink chewy lolly strap. I poked her on the nose lightly before answering.

"Her name is Gipsy. Her mother was my mother's before she died. Ugh, I wish dad hadn't remarried." Dean smiled sadly and laughed at the face Neville was pulling.

"My mom remarried after my dad disappeared, though my step-dad apparently isn't as bad as your step-mom." I grimaced at this and nodded.

"Yeah, she's a really evil step-mom, with the two ugly step-sisters to go with it." Neville looked at me funny at my reference.

"I guess that makes ya Cinderella then don't it?" I grinned at the way Seamus's accent twisted his words, taking a minute to understand his statement.

"Kinda. Then again, I'd say Ruby or Mel fit the description better. Hell, Ruby's even found her prince." Neville looked at us and I giggled at him.

"What are you two talking about?" Neville asked as Seamus continued to chew on his lolly.

"It's a nursery rhyme." He still looked at me funny before turning to Seamus.

"Muggle." He gave sounds of understanding and leaned back into the seats of the carriage. I raised an eyebrow, waiting for them to notice the fact I had no idea what they were talking about.

"What's wrong?" Neville asked timidly after glancing at me.

"Um…what's a muggle?" Seamus gasped in mock horror and Dean rolled his eyes at him.

"Always the drama queen." Dean muttered as Seamus mock fainted onto Neville, causing him to shriek loudly and launch himself onto the floor. I giggled loudly as Seamus let his tongue loll out and he muttered the word 'dead' while trying to keep his tongue still, making it sound my like 'ed'.

"I'm guessing by the fact you don't know what muggles are, that you're muggle-born?" I raised an eyebrow again and glared at him.

"If you would explain what a muggle is then I could probably tell you if I'm muggle-born." Dean snorted in amusement as Seamus sat up, unscathed.

"A muggle is a normal person, or non-magical being. If you are muggle born, your parents are both muggles. Take me for example, I don't know my father, so I don't know if I'm a muggle-born or a half-blood, like Seamus." I glanced over at Seamus, looking for further explanation.

"Me mams a witch, me dads a muggle, bit of a shock for him when he found out, eh?" I grinned at him before looking a Neville.

"I'm pureblood, my parents were both magical before…well, I live with my nan now, she's a witch too, as you probably heard before." We all looked away awkwardly at the mention over Neville's past.

"So, you have sisters?" At that, the door opened, revealing none other than Melody, Ruby and her boyfriend, Patrick O' Connor.

"That'd be us." Ruby said as I enveloped her in a hug. "Jesus Tan, we weren't gone that long. I see you made it on the train alright." Ruby and Melody had spent the last week at their friend Michelle's house, so they hadn't been able to guide me onto the train. See, I may not have known much about magical folk, but Mum and Dad had found out when Ruby and Melody had gotten their letters for Hogwarts a few years back. Though Ruby and Mel were twins, they didn't look anything alike. Ruby was in Ravenclaw I think, though I have no idea what that even means. She had violently red hair, almost matching her name in colour, inherited from our mother. Her eyes were a shocking green, also inherited from our mother, whereas Melody was a Hufflepuff and had inherited my fathers blond hair, though she had recently died it really dark brown, almost black really, and had pale blue eyes, I had inherited my fathers deep, dark brown eyes and my aunts short, jet black hair. My skin colour was sun kissed from the Texas sun, not much to do in Texas other than play outside. I let go of Ruby and launched myself at Mel.

"Good to see you're still your usual bubbly self." She chuckled, letting me go before glancing at the boys in the compartment.

"She isn't excited, she's just normally like this. Seriously, if she's not hyper, it's either raining, or someone's dead." I swatted her arm and waved at Patrick, I always liked him, and he was really friendly and could almost match me in the bubbliness department sometimes. He brushed his long, light brown hair out of his face before speaking.

"Hey Tanya, guess what?"

"What?" I asked, bouncing up and down. I knew that as soon as Ruby and him graduated they would be getting married, he had asked her back in June and she said yes.

"I'm head boy!" He said, reminding me of a guy in the mall we went to the time we visited some family in Chicago. I grinned at him as Ruby pecked him on the cheek with a look of absolute admiration.

"That's…great?" Mel smirked at me, nodding in approval. "Yeah, that's great Patrick!" Patrick was in Gryffindor I think, and him, Mel and Ruby had always said I would be there also, though I have no idea what their going on about.

"Oh sugar! The prefect meeting is about to start! Mel, Pat, come on! Bye sis!" They raced from the cabin. I wasn't offended though, I knew that they had received their letters, fully packed with their prefect badges before they had left for Michelle's house. I slid the door closed and flopped onto the seat, ignoring Gipsies hisses of protests as I disturbed her newly found sleep. I glanced at the boys who were all laughing quietly, Seamus almost choking on his chew strap as he did so.

"What?" I asked, bemused with them.

"That wasn't… slightly awkward. Do all of your family speak so fast?" Neville spoke, his laughter not as plentiful as the others was.

"Yeah, you should here my aunt Gemma, nothing she says make sense." Dean nodded, he had witnessed his sisters have a talk-a-thon while he was in the room once.

"So what house do you wanna be in?" Seamus asked, and I thought about what my sisters and Patrick had said.

"Gryffindor." I blurted before anyone else had a chance to, making them stare at me in surprise. "That's the one they said they thought I suited the most." They nodded slowly before continuing around the circle.

"I don't really know that much. Can you guys describe them to me?" He said, glancing between Seamus and Neville.

"Sure. Gryffindor, which I will be in, is for the chivalrous and brave, the strong-willed and most importantly, the fun and loyal ones. Ravenclaw is for the intelligent ones, with plenty of creativity. Hufflepuff is full of those who are hard-workers, tolerant and loyal, also for those who value fair-play. Slytherin's," He spat the word, " are cunning, ambitious, and almost the entire lot of them are pure-blooded. To call them evil wouldn't be that far from the truth." He turned back to Dean, who cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"Well then, I'd like to be in Gryffindor, but if I had to choose another, I would say Hufflepuff." We turned our attention to Neville, who shrunk back slightly.

"I wanna be in Gryffindor like my parents. Then again, my Nan wants me to be in Ravenclaw, like she was, so…yeah."

"Okay, next subject, um…favourite Quidditch team?" Dean glanced at us in confusion.

"What's Quidditch?" Dean asked as Seamus groaned in dismay.

"Only the best sport ever! Quidditch is a game played on broomsticks, and played at a Quidditch pitch, equipped with three hoops of different heights at either end. The game is played with four balls, the Quaffle, the golden snitch and the two bludgers. You get ten points if you get a Quaffle through one of the hoops. There are seven players on each team, a keeper, who defends the goalposts, a seeker, who finds, chases and catches the golden snitch. The first Seeker who gets it usually wins the game, seeing as catchin' it scores you a hundred and fifty points. There are two beaters, who carry bats to defend their team from bludgers and to try and harm the other teams members by hittin' 'em with the bludgers in turn. Three chasers, who chase the Quaffle and try to score points with the point system from before. All of this is done while flying." He nodded slowly, getting the gist of the game.

"Kinda like football on brooms." Dean said, earning an approving nod from Seamus.

"Neville?"

"Um… Probably the Wasps." Seamus nodded in approval.

"'M more of a Kestrel fan me self." I surprised all of them by answering this one.

"I like the Tutshill Tornados. Patrick introduced me to them once, I've even watched a few games." Neville and Seamus stared at me in shock. "What? I can't know Quidditch? Pat and the girls even taught me how to fly a broom last year."

"Are ya any good?" Seamus asked, still not quite getting how I knew Quidditch, but not the term 'muggle'. I shrugged and nodded.

"I'm a fair player. Though, one time I accidentally knocked Pat off his broom, causing him to go unconscious. Rubes wouldn't talk to me for weeks!" Dean chuckled as I grimaced at the memory.

"I bet she wouldn't."


	2. Welcome To Your New Home

_Hoping to add a little humor in this one, hope you like it._

**_I DO NOT OWN THIS SERIES ONLY THE HALF OF THIS PLOT THAT I MADE UP, MY CHARACTER TANYA _**(Whom I love so much) **_AND THE CRAZY THINGS HER, DEAN, SEAMUS AND NEVILLE GET UP TO._**

Chapter Two

Welcome To Your New Home

I squeaked as I struggled to change into my robes in the small stall of the girls' bathroom. Dammit, I shouldn't have left it this late. I felt the train starting to slow down as I slipped on my shiny black Mary janes, the sensible kind, not the one with high heels mind you, because I can't walk in high heels yet. I bolted out of the empty bathroom and raced back to the carriage knocking furiously on the window. Someone pulled the door open and I hurtled inside as the train rolled to a stop. I followed the boys through the door. We threaded through the encroaching crowd and out the already opened door to the station. I breathed in, relieved to finally be breathing in fresh air. My stomach rumbled loudly and I glanced around to see if anyone heard it, but the only evidence I could find that someone had heard was the fact Seamus was grinning at me.

"Don't worry, me mam said somethin' about a feast." I beamed back at him, relieved that soon, I would be able to eat everything I desired. God, even the _word_ 'feast' sounded edible. After a few minutes of walking we reached the edge of a lake. I gulped when I saw the small dinghy's we had to go across the lake in and I saw Seamus's grin widen out of the corner of my eye. Hagrid, the man who had come to collect me, separated Neville and Dean into a dinghy with Harry and one of the Weasley boys from earlier. When he came back to me and Seamus he put us in a boat with two girls, a red head, whose name I later learned was Susan Bones, and a blond girl by the name of Hannah Abbott. Seamus and me took the backbench and the girls took the front, probably eager to see Hogwarts Castle. I wasn't fussed. One, I don't like water. Two, why would you want to see the place you're going to be spending the next seven years? I mean, wouldn't I be seeing it enough soon?

My god, I can see why they wanted the wanted the front bench, this place is breath taking. The ancient architecture brought an elegant charm to the educational environment. In other words, they succeeded in getting attention from the fact that we would soon be too tired out from studying that we would be staring at the walls for a pretty long time. I gasped as Professor Mcgonagall opened the massive doors to the Great Hall. Never had I seen such a big room! And what was up with the ceiling? I heard a girl in front say it was the sky outside and I thought what a stupid idea it was. I mean, sure, it was pretty, but what would happen if it started hailing? I looked around and saw the four main tables and the banners above them. Apparently we were walking between the Gryffindor table and the Hufflepuff table up to… holy crap! We're about to be sorted! Wait a minute, why are Seamus, Dean and Neville shaking me?

"I said, Tanya Decker." Holy hell! I walked quickly up to where the professor was and sat down on the stool there. I felt her place the hat on my head and immediately there was another voice in my head.

'I dare say, you're very bold! A lot of…enthusiasm…too. And when you make friends you're stupendously loyal! You have your pride, but you don't flaunt it, you've proven yourself even stronger than your sisters! You're smart like Rowena, though you don't show it too often, you're as kind and caring as Helga, you can be hateful, but only if something really offends you…you fight fiercely for the things and people, that you care for. You, my dear, belong in…'

"Gryffindor!" I beamed at my sisters, both at their separate tables, at Pat, who was applauding me from my new house table, and my new friends in the crowd, Dean, Seamus and Neville. I settled down on the end of the bench, next to Harry, the Weasley, and the girl who had talked about the ceiling. I turned my attention back to the front when Dean was called up to be sorted.

"Gryffindor!" I cheered loudly along with the rest, waiting for Dean sit down across from me.

"Neville Longbottom?" Neville edged his way towards the front and climbed the short set of stairs up to the platform where Mcgonagall and the hat were. We waited patiently while the hat deliberated, though it still made me jump when it delivered its verdict.

"Gryffindor!" As I saw Neville face fill with surprise and happiness I thought about what he had said earlier about his parents. 'They were both magical before…' what did it mean? What had happened to Neville's parents? I wasn't able to linger on these thoughts for long as Seamus was called up to be sorted. I snorted quietly in amusement as I saw him roll his eyes up in the direction of the hat. I saw him smile at something the hat had said.

"Gryffindor!" The hat cried, almost drowned out by the roar of cheers that had erupted from Dean, Neville and I. Neville had slid in beside me so Seamus sat across the table next to Dean. We waited for the last of us to be sorted when Professor Dumbledore stood up.

"Let the feast begin." With this, all sorts of food showed up and I heaped whatever was on front of me onto my plate. Mhmm, macaroni and cheese.

Turns out, I shared a dorm with Hermione Granger, the girl who talked about the ceiling, Parvarti Patil, Lavender Brown and Fay Dunbar. Seamus, Dean and Neville were sharing a dorm with Harry and Ron (The Weasley, I just found out his name from Hermione). We also found out that boys can't go into the girls dormitories the next morning when apparently Seamus, Dean and Neville were going to wake me up early. They tried to climb the stairs and ended up on their ass at the bottom again, causing a crash loud enough to wake me up, being the light sleeper that I am. So, naturally, thinking it was a burglar (don't ask, I think I still thought I was at home), I crept downstairs without my wand and pounced on one of the 'burglars', causing them to land face down on the floor. Hard. I guess they weren't expecting an eleven-year-old girl to land on their back mid step. Next thing I know someone lit their wand and illuminated the whole scene. Dean and Neville staring at me while obviously trying not to burst out laughing, me sitting on the back of the burglar, which was actually Seamus, and Professor Mcgonagall standing in the portrait hole, lips pressed together tightly, her hair in an unusually loose bun and a dressing gown. Needless to say, we were all reprimanded despite Seamus, Dean and Neville's protests and my insistent cries of "I thought they were burglars!" Also, Seamus had to have some ice for his face that now had a slight bruise from where I had smacked it into the ground. When we got back to the common room it was well passed the time when most people started to wake up. When we got inside I turned and glared at them.

"What exactly were you three trying to do?" They grinned at me sheepishly and shied away.

"Well, we were going to wake you up early, but apparently boys aren't allowed into the girls dormitories so when we tried to go up the stairs turned into a slide and we landed on our arses. Of course, we wouldn't have made as much noise but somebody had to smack into a table." Dean, who had been saying this turned and glared at Seamus who grinned back at him. "Then, when we get up and manage to shake ourselves off, somebody else jumps on the other somebody and gets us caught by professor Mcgonagall."

"Hey, I thought you were all burglars, it's not my fault! Besides, why were you trying to wake me up early anyway?" The boys cracked up laughing for a while before answering me.

"We wanted to see if it made a difference." Okay, can I get a side of vague with that vague?

"Made a difference to what?" I asked, hoping to get a straight answer.

"Your being hypo."


End file.
